


Shortage: TBA (Team Building Activities)

by thebookishdark



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gen, Team Building Exercises
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:35:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7746901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebookishdark/pseuds/thebookishdark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“We need more team building exercises.”</p><p>“Dodgeball.”</p><p>“We’re not going to play <em>dodgeball</em>.”</p><p>They end up playing dodgeball.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Shortage: TBA (Team Building Activities)

**Author's Note:**

> I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote in my phone "voltron dodgeball" and this is what came of that, I hope you like it.

“We need more team building exercises.”

“Dodgeball.”

“We’re not going to play _dodgeball_.”

They end up playing dodgeball.

\--

The team is lined up in the training room, Allura and Coran curious as to why Lance is holding a bag full of filtration orbs.

“Alright,” Shiro takes a deep breath. “Dodgeball. No headshots, you get hit you’re out, you catch it and a teammate is back in. Feet stay on your side of the line. Other than that, you have free reign. Remember, this is supposed to be a _team_ building exercise. You have to communicate with your team and work _together_.”

Everyone nods and Shiro grabs seven sticks, two shorter than the others.

“We’re going to draw for team captains, then play rock paper scissors for who picks first. Whoever isn’t picked can referee. Any questions?” Nobody says anything, so Shiro starts walking down the line, each person grabbing a stick.

When all the sticks are handed out Pidge and Hunk have the short straws. Lance looks visibly disappointed, Hunk looks a little afraid that he’s going to hurt someone’s feelings by not picking them, Pidge has a fire in their eyes as they think over strategies, and everyone else seems like they’re fine with what they’ve been dealt.

Hunk and Pidge step up and chant in unison, “Rock, paper, scissors—“

“—yes!”

“Aww..”

“Hunk, you always throw scissors, this can’t be a surprise.”

“What? I do not. That is patently untrue.”

“No,” Lance chimes in, “you pretty much always pick scissors, dude.”

“Hey!”

“Alright, alright, it doesn’t matter if Hunk does pick scissors every time. Pidge, make your first choice.”

Pidge hums as they walk across the line of teammates, making a show of looking everyone over. When they get to the end of the line they return to stand next to Hunk. “Well, Shiro, obviously,” they say flippantly.

Shiro joins Pidge and whispers in their ear; nobody can hear what’s said, but Pidge nods and waits for Hunk to make his choice.

Hunk looks like he’s trying to think long and hard about how to best construct his team, to actually play to strategy like Shiro suggested, but unfortunately Lance is gesturing wildly at himself and Hunk can’t ignore him.

He sighs. “I pick Lance.”

Lance fist pumps then tries to saunter over coolly, waiting next to Hunk.

Pidge doesn’t bother with theatrics this time and immediately states “Allura.”

Everyone, Allura included, looks a little surprised. Everyone expected Keith to be the next choice, and then once all the paladins were chosen then one of the Alteans would be picked. Shiro’s smirking a little, as if he knows that once Allura gets a hang of the game she’ll be a great asset. Besides, Keith and Lance need to work together for once, instead of competing against each other. This might be good for everyone, after all.

Hunk shakes his head a little and calls out the obvious next choice: “Keith.”

Shiro claps his hands together and looks at everyone. “So those are the teams. Sorry Coran, I guess that means you’re ref-ing.”

“No worries, I’ll perform the duty as best as I can!”

\--

A few minutes of shuffling around, arguing about what to call the teams (“It’s gotta be something cool!” “Why not just ‘Yellow team’ and ‘Green team’ based off the captain’s lions?” “That’s not cool enough!”), and setting up find Green team and Yellow team on opposite sides of the training room, one hand pressed to the wall, waiting for Coran to signal the start of the match. A buzzer sounds and there’s a mad dash for the center line. When the dust settles Hunk has stayed towards the back, making himself a more difficult target, Lance and Keith both have a ball, Pidge and Allura also have one each, and Shiro has two. There’s a split second where nobody throws, assessing, but Lance of course throws the first shot. He aims at Shiro—the logical target—and the ball bounces harmlessly off of the two-ball shield Shiro has constructed for himself, landing behind him near the wall.

“Good going.” Keith would glare at Lance but he isn’t going to risk taking his eyes off the other team for a second.

“Like _you_ could do any better.” Lance rolls his eyes and is rewarded with a ball to the gut, courtesy of Pidge.

The buzzer sounds again and Lance grumbles on his way to the sidelines. Keith smirks a little and puts a hand behind his back, trying to communicate something to Hunk without the other team gleaning his meaning. Hunk nods, determined, even though Keith can’t see him. Keith starts backing up to Hunk’s position and risks a look, prompting Shiro to throw a ball at Keith. It’s quick, but this was the plan: create an opening and hope someone takes the bait. Hunk steps in front of Keith and catches the ball as Keith dodges to the left and throws at Pidge.

Pidge dodges out of the way and the ball bounces against the wall and rolls back to Yellow team’s side. Lance whoops and jogs back into the fray, picking up the rolling ball as he goes.

Shiro passes by Allura, keeping an eye on Yellow team, quickly murmuring something to her before moving on to Pidge, strategizing. Green team all nod and start moving towards the far corners of their side of the training room. Hunk hands his ball to Keith and retreats, ready to try to catch whatever ball comes at him next.

Pidge picks up the ball Shiro deflected earlier and taps the floor twice with their foot. Pidge and Shiro simultaneously start running and both throw at Hunk. In his attempt to grab the first ball to reach him, the second hits him in the shoulder, he fumbles the one he was trying to catch, and the buzzer sounds. Keith stoops quickly and prevents the two balls from rolling back to Green team’s side. Hunk slumps his way to the wall, but Lance throws him a thumbs up; he doesn’t seem worried.

Allura holds onto the ball and backs up an extra step. Keith and Lance nod at each other and run up to the line, Keith aiming at Shiro and Lance at Pidge. Pidge dodges but Shiro catches a blow on his leg, the throw curving just slightly. The buzzer sounds and Shiro walks off to the side, throwing a significant look at his teammates. Allura and Pidge nod.

Pidge picks up both balls on their side. Keith and Lance rearm themselves with the two remaining on their side. They’re at a disadvantage. Lance does some elaborate hand motions at Keith and Keith angles his head towards Hunk—Lance nods and the plan is set. Pidge glances at Allura and she winks back. Pidge lets down their guard, lobbing one of their balls too slowly at Lance—a calculated move—and Lance takes the bait, dodging right into Pidge’s second throw. The buzzer sounds—a solid connection to Lance’s forehead.

“Pidge.” Shiro sounds disappointed but Pidge just shrugs and walks over to join Shiro on the sidelines.

Keith and Lance smile at each other, feeling like they might just win. Allura’s only got the one ball in her hands, and the one Lance just threw, settled near the back wall. She backs up carefully and picks up the ball, never once taking her eyes off of the remains of Yellow team. Lance rubs his forehead, thankful that they didn’t use the deadly looking balls that Allura had first suggested, a child’s toy supposedly, and instead used the air filters that Pidge had found in a storage closet.

They get ready, waiting for Allura to throw so she has less ammo. They’re feeling pretty competent up until the point where Allura’s eyes fill with determination and she grins. It’s unsettling, or more accurately, terrifying. They don’t have very long to recover because Keith is suddenly on the floor, a ball to the gut, and Lance has only a second to glance in surprise at Keith before he’s going down, a solid connection to his leg. The buzzer sounds and Allura is smiling, eyes shining, and Shiro and Pidge are high fiving, laughing to themselves. Hunk is, of course, worrying about Keith and Lance.

Keith and Lance are just lying on the floor, dazed. Not because of the impact or any injury but just the sheer surprise of it. They had no idea that Allura was _that_ strong or that terrifying. They knew, of course, that she could be both of those things, but they had never actually seen it—usually they’re in their lions and Allura is behind the castle’s defense systems.

Hunk appears over them, asking if they’re okay, if he needs to get them to the healing pods, oh god what if there’s internal bleeding—and then Lance starts laughing, and Keith joins in. Soon, everyone’s laughing and Hunk and Shiro are helping the boys up off the floor. Keith winces as he straightens up and Allura rushes over, smile faltering.

“I’m sorry Keith, was that too hard of a throw?”

“No, no, it was fine. Just a bit… unexpected.”

“Have you _always_ been this strong? How did we not _know_?!” Lance throws his hands in the air as if some great secret has just been revealed. Pidge rolls their eyes at the theatrics, Lance is handling this about as well as when they came out.

“Well,” Shiro pitches in, “she _has_ thrown me across a room before.”

Lance makes a strangled noise and opens his mouth as if he’s going to ask a string of questions, but instead he yelps as he’s hugged by Coran, who starts congratulating all of the paladins on a job well done—he essentially gives a play by play of the whole match, roughly patting backs and ruffling hair as he expounds upon a particularly good throw or dodge. Soon everyone’s forgotten Lance’s shock as they stand around in a tight circle, complimenting each other and planning their next game.

Shiro smiles; maybe dodgeball was a good idea after all.


End file.
